New Delhi, July 31: A day after a news report said that the Indian Railways was planning to reduce its staff, the Chief Public Relations Officer on Wednesday issued a clarification, saying the move is a "routine exercise" to assess the performance of their employees. The official said the letter was sent to all zones under the Indian Railway Establishment Code.

"It is clarified that letters have been issued to Railway Zones/Production Units etc, merely by way of reiteration, to conduct the routine review of performance of the Railway employees in pursuance of the service conditions laid down under the Indian Railway Establishment Code," the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Central Railway said in a statement. Indian Railways Parcel Business to Get Boost, Amazon Roped in to Transport Goods.

According to the report, the Indian Railways asked all zones "to identify the staff who are inefficient". The Railways wrote a letter in this regard to zonal railway departments on July 27 and asked them to send a performance report of employees by August 9. Based on the review, about three lakhs employees may be asked to take voluntary retirement, the report said. Indian Railways Earned In Excess of Rs 350 Crore From Sale of Platform Tickets, Ads And Shops in 2018-19, Says Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Indian Railways, which currently has 13 lakh employees, is planning to reduce its staff to 10 lakh in the next six to 12 months, the report claimed. "The national transporter may ask the staff to take voluntary retirement who have above the age of 55 years or those who have completed 30 years of service in the first quarter of 2020," read the report.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 09:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).